La Junta football stomps Raton

The difference between the La Junta High School football team's first two games were as different as night and day.

After a 21-14 loss to Sierra in the season opener, the Tigers bounced back big last Friday as they defeated the Raton (New Mexico) Tigers 52-0 at Tiger Stadium.

"We played a lot better," said LJ coach Clint Buderus. "Raton wasn't as good as Sierra, but we got a lot better from Week 1 to Week 2 and that's what we asked the kids to do. We improved and we have to keep improving."

Raton had the ball first, but was forced to punt. La Junta then went on a 10-play, 68-yard scoring drive to take the early lead. Cole Bryant set LJ in scoring position with an 18-yard quarterback keeper and Dominic Brown capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.

A 19-yard punt return by Garron Espinoza put La Junta on the Raton 38 yard line. LJ scored five plays later as Dax Bender went into the end zone on a 9-yard run.

Raton fumbled the ensuing kickoff with Jared Kayganic recovering on the RHS 26. Bryant threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Izaiah Peteque just three plays later, and after Jesus Huerta's point after, La Junta led 21-0.

Brown intercepted Raton quarterback Dante Mileta on the 15 to set up the next score. Bryant threw to Kevin Haugen in the end zone on the next play for a 28-0 LJ lead at the end of the first quarter.

Brown recorded another interception early in the second quarter and Bender scored his second touchdown of the night, this time on a 4-yard run.

A partially blocked punt set up La Junta again as it took over at the Raton 25. This time the Raton defense kept LJ out of the end zone, but La Junta did take advantage of the field position as Huerta kicked a 38-yard field goal to increase the lead to 38-0 with 2:45 left in the first half.

La Junta scored again in the early stages of the third quarter. Brown set up the score with a 38-yard run and he also ended the drive with a 30-yard TD run.

The La Junta second stringers scored the final touchdown of the game with Carlos Triana taking the ball into the end zone on a 5-yard run.

The La Junta offense accounted for 347 yards of total offense with 288 coming in the running game. Brown led all rushers with 102 yards on 10 carries. Wyatt Buhr was next with 78 yards on eight carries. Bender recorded 33 yards on nine attempts, Bryant had 29 yards on five carries, Triana had 29 yards on six carries and Kayganic had 17 yards on four carries.

Bryant attempted only six passes, but he completed three of then for 59 yards. Peteque had two receptions for 44 yards and Haugen had the other catch for 15 yards.

The La Junta defense was also impressive as it limited Raton to minus-72 yards rushing and only 11 passing yards. LJ also limited Raton to three first downs with two of them coming by penalties.

"They played well," Buderus said. "We showed up to play and it was good for us."

La Junta (1-1) will play on the road for the first time this season as it faces Alamosa on Friday. The Mean Moose are a familiar opponent for the Tigers.

"We played them the last couple of years and it's a pretty good rivalry for us," Buderus said. "We played them in camp this year and they're good. They're solid and they have some good kids and they're coached well. We have to go play on the road, so we'll find out what we have."